Petition seeks vote on Grandville's participation in The Rapid

GRANDVILLE — From the outset, Grandville was iffy about the Interurban Transit Partnership. Now, as local support for the regional bus system has waned, some residents want their city to make a fast exit from what has become known as The Rapid.

A petition is being circulated to put withdrawal from the transit authority on the November ballot.

“I’m all for helping people, but it’s a government entity that’s way out of control — I’m tired of paying for it,” said resident Mike Cobb, who is leading the petition drive. “Grandville has voted (four of five Rapid millage requests) down and yet we still get forced to do it. I just want to give people the right to vote.”

The former Grand Rapids Area Transportation Authority in 2000 became the millage-funded ITP involving East Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids, Kentwood, Walker, Wyoming and Grandville.

Grandville, which had been part of GRATA for years, agreed to join ITP by a 4-3 City Council vote in December 1999. Grandville voters then rejected an initial 0.75-mill operating tax by a 2.3-percent margin in April 2000 but were outnumbered by support from other ITP cities and the regional millage was approved.

The Rapid subsequently has renewed its millage three times — and nearly doubled it to 1.47 mill — with Grandville’s support steadily plunging. Almost two-thirds of Grandville voters opposed the latest tax request in May, when the six cities overall approved a seven-year renewal and increase by 136 votes, out of 34,432 ballots cast.

“Grandville is subsidizing the city of Grand Rapids right now,” said Tomas Kosmak, a Tea Party advocate who’s running for the council. “If I said (buses in Grandville) are half-empty, I’d be way exaggerating. There’s a fraction of people in there that could be in there.”

Peter Varga, executive director of The Rapid, said he can’t speculate why support in Grandville and other suburban cities has fallen. Kentwood also opposed the past two millage requests while Walker and Wyoming have voted against the past three. But “each one of the communities is a vital element of the whole” and all bus routes will be improved as a result of the latest millage increase, he said.

“We gotta be part of it,” said Grandville Mayor Jim Buck, who pushed for ITP membership in the city’s 1999 vote.

Of those still on the council, Steve Maas and Carole Pettijohn also favored ITP membership. Pettijohn is up for re-election this fall.

Buck said Grandville’s support has ebbed and flowed over the years, with the Silver Line bus rapid transit proposal on Division Avenue intensifying opposition to the past two millage requests. But “we have not always defeated it,” he said. About 53 percent of Grandville voters supported a 0.95-mill Rapid tax request in 2003.

Even if Grandville were to leave The Rapid, state law requires that the seven-year millage approved in May be levied.